


air & lack thereof.

by kay_okay



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Road Trips, TATINOF, Tour Bus, Touring, star-gazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 12:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6116670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_okay/pseuds/kay_okay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were on a highway in a field somewhere, only their first week on the road. The land around them was flat as paper and dotted with clumps of trees, the sky a never-ending midnight ocean sprinkled with glittering stars. They’d both seen this all-encompassing vastness before, camping trips back home and the like, but never seen anything like it here in the US. They start walking across the unfamiliar terrain, away from the bus and empty highway, and Phil keeps his eyes trained up at the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	air & lack thereof.

**Author's Note:**

> they get some stolen time for themselves one night at the beginning of tatinof.
> 
>  
> 
> or, the US tour dates came out today and I immediately thought of even more tour stories to write. I'll let myself out.
> 
>  
> 
> lovely lyrics at the beginning from "retrograde" by james blake; title lifted from another james blake song.
> 
> this is a work of fiction. this is a fictional story about fictional representations of real people. none of the events are true. no profit was made from this work. unbetaed, all mistakes are my own.

_suddenly, i’m hit.  
is this darkness or the dawn?_

_Ignore everybody else.  
We’re alone now._

*

Their bus broke down for the first time in Florida. 

Well, Dan supposes, it’s technically Georgia, but they’d just crossed the border according to the roadside sign that crept by his bunk window. They'd coasted past it, decelerating little by little until the bus rolled over gravel into the soft shoulder. He and Phil overheard the driver talking to their tour manager through the window, and once they heard the words “two hours,” they both had jumped out the door into the summer night, the sounds of their tour techs playing video games in the bus’ lounge behind them.

They were on a highway in a field somewhere, only their first week on the road. The land around them was flat as paper and dotted with clumps of trees, the sky a never-ending midnight ocean sprinkled with glittering stars. They’d both seen this all-encompassing vastness before, camping trips back home and the like, but never seen anything like it here in the US. Sticking to mostly urban areas when they'd visited before, this tour would take them all over the country and through towns they'd never even heard of until now. They start walking across the unfamiliar terrain, away from the bus and empty highway, and Phil keeps his eyes trained up at the stars.

“Careful you don’t trip,” Dan says, pushing his shoulder lightly into Phil’s. He looks over, startled. 

“I’m trying but it’s really dark out here and I’m not making any promises,” Phil says, but he’s smiling, big and goofy with his eyes a bit glazed over. As soon as he finishes his sentence, his heel hits a small hole in the ground and Phil tips back, his fingers clutching on to the elbow of Dan’s already-outstretched arm. He shoots Phil a look and they both laugh, Phil keeping a firm grip on Dan’s arm as they continue walking.

They make it to a clearing of sorts, a wide flat space of bright green grass they have to hop over a waist-high fence to get to. Phil lets go of Dan’s elbow long enough to let him sail effortlessly over, Dan reaching back for Phil once his feet are flat on the grass. Opting instead to climb over rung by rung, Phil steadies himself with his hands on Dan’s shoulders, Dan’s hands catching him around the waist when Phil jumps down.

Quietly, they lay flat on their back in the dewy grass, faces pointed towards the sky. Phil puts an arm out and Dan climbs in. 

They don’t talk much at all, mostly listening to the orchestra of crickets and the faraway sound of the occasional car on the distant road. Dan readjusts his head on Phil’s shoulder. Phil lets his hand slide into Dan’s tousled hair, seeming to revert back to its natural curl more and more in the thick, humid air. 

Dan thinks back on a night very similar to this one so many years ago, summer replaced by winter, soft blades of grass replaced by piles of wet snow. Braving the extreme weather to get a glimpse of the vast night sky, Dan claiming he'd never properly seen the stars in the north before. The sky looked the same then as it did now, dark and bright at the same time, with the same warm body next to his. It’s always been them, in each other’s vicinity, drawn together like matching magnets or puzzle pieces. Speaking the same language, one they’d written in parallel and articulated through text messages and Skype conversations, cups of coffee and hot chocolate, gentle touches and warm lips pressed against whispered words.

Phil comes up on an elbow to look at him, and Dan's heart pounds against his rib cage. It's not fear, he knows that, but somewhere between other emotions he can't quite categorize. Their gazes meet in the darkness, Phil's eyes midnight in this low light, and Dan stops mentally waxing poetic, listens to the loud sound of the blood rushing through his body. Using the fingers he’s laid against Phil’s lithe neck, he brings him closer. Their lips touch soft, unhurried and sweet as they move together in a kiss. 

Dan presses up when Phil leans into him, opens his mouth against Phil's insistent kisses, raking his hand through Phil's soft hair. Dan grabs onto the wrist that's planted itself next to his head, Phil holding himself up over Dan with one locked arm, the other sliding under Dan's jumper. Dan keens when Phil drags the back of his knuckles across Dan's bare ribs, spine curving up from the grass and a soft, high-pitched noise against Phil's open mouth. The closeness of it makes Phil's breath catch in his throat.

Dan turns his head, lets Phil kiss along his cheek, his earlobe and neck, breathes out a sigh when Phil gets to his collarbone. Dan spreads his arms out wide, turns his palms down into the grass and hangs on. Curls his fingers into the earth when Phil curls his fingers against his waist, and is thankful for this night, all this space to spread out, the smell of the summer sky and the person above him. 

_You look beautiful like this,_ he thinks he hears whispered against the skin of shoulder, jumper's collar stretched far, then it's confirmed because _always look beautiful,_ soft and clear against his ear this time. Dan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of night, smiles into the air thick between them.

They exhale together and hold on tight, the blanket of sky falling down around them, stars everywhere.


End file.
